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Former Florida Rep. Corrine Brown officially reported to prison today

Today marks the day in which Corrine Brown – who served for 24 years as a Democrat in Congress before losing a reelection bid in 2016 – goes from private citizen to prison cellmate.

Brown will report to a federal prison in Sumter County after receiving a five-year sentence late last year, on December. Prior to that, in May, Brown was convicted on 18 of 22 charges brought against her, including fraud, lying on her tax returns and lying on her congressional financial disclosures.

The charges stem from her role in a federal corruption conspiracy that involved stealing roughly $800,000 from a fake education charity for needy children, called the One Door for Education Foundation. In reality, Brown used the funds on amenities such as vacations in the Bahamas and a Beyoncé concert, as well as directly funneling the money to her own bank accounts.

The Coleman federal correctional complex, where Brown will serve her sentence, is the nation’s largest with more than 6,600 prisoners. While as a congresswoman Brown served alongside our nation’s fellow elected officials, Brown will serve her time as a prisoner alongside criminals such as Robert Allen Stanford, who was convicted of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

On her way to the prison today, which sits about 50 miles northwest of downtown Orlando, Brown was accompanied by her family and her faith leader Bishop Kelvin Cobaris, lead pastor and founder of The Impact Church of Orlando.

“I saw emotion. I didn’t see nervousness or fear,” Cobaris told TV reporters in attendance. “She was just ready to go and face what she needed to face.”

Upon Brown's election in 1992, she and two others became the first African-Americans from Florida elected to Congress since after the Civil War.